Troubleshooting – 3D Printers Common Problems With Solutions

We know that having a 3d printer can be a tricky thing.

That’s why in this article we have come up with some common 3d printer problems that you have already faced or gonna face in future. Why don’t you take a look at the problems and see if you find the one that you are struggling with?

We would also like to note something here. If you can’t find a match for your problems, you can leave it in the comment section and one of our experts will surely respond to it and find the correct solution for you.

Here is a list of the most common 3d printing problems and troubleshooting. We have excluded the simplest ones and enlisted the more serious ones.

# Cracks

You will meet cracks once you start printing tall objects. Heat is more consumed on taller designs. That’s why the heat of the build plate is not enough. That’s why these cracks happen mostly on the middle point of the design and the main reason behind it is the difference of the heat.

The slightest crack can ruin your whole design. That’s why before making a tall design on your 3d printer, you should be very much careful about the heat circulation. The heat must be perfect.

Here is what you can do …

Increase the build plate and extruder temperature by 10 degrees.

Reduce the cooling fan speed

Make necessary changes on the temperature while the object is being printed

The supporting structures should be properly designed

Don’t increase the temperature too much to avoid other printing problems

The most important thing is you have to keep an open eye about what’s happening inside the printing chamber and make necessary changes.

# Clogged Nozzle Head

Clogging of the nozzle head is perhaps the most common 3d printer problem that you will have or everyone has. With them you can’t get anywhere with your printer. Don’t panic if your extruder nozzle is jammed.

The good thing is that, you don’t need to buy a new head for your printer. The jammed one can easily be repaired. In order to do that, you have to take out the nozzle from the printer. It should be stuck with two screws or locks. If you want to take out the whole extruder, make sure to unplug the wires.

You would also need to have a gas burner and a narrow metal wire or a pin or a needle. After you take out the nozzle you need to heat it up from a outer source. Using a hand held burner can make things easy, otherwise any fire will do.

Once you do it, you should put the wire through the nozzle and take out the stuck filament that is melted by now. Do it thoroughly and the head will be clean as new. Once done, you can put it back and your printer will work perfectly after that.

We recommend you to use the temperature appropriately and use good filaments only. You should also remember that the temperature of the filament varies from model, make and color.

# Warping of the Base

If you don’t have a heated build plate in your 3d Printer then you will eventually face it. Warping basically means the wrapping of the base of the object that is being printed. It’s a problem that is caused by the difference of the heat.

You see the first few layers tend to shrink if they cool down fast. This results in bending the whole structure. You can just use a heated build plate and get rid of this problem. Make sure that they are not too heated otherwise they will melt the plastic of the base layers.

If you can’t do that you can use the blue tape on the build plate. The tape should be glued on both sides. If you can’t get your hands on a both sided tape then you can just spread a little adhesive on the surface where the printing is going to happen.

This will keep the base away from bending. On top of everything you have to make sure that your build plate is properly leveled.

# Bulging Out of the Base

This problem is more commonly known as elephant foot. This happens to almost all the beginners. When they find their base warping, they increase the amount of plastic for the first layer. Another reason that causes elephant foot is the weight of the object that is being created on the printer.

If the upper portion of the model is too heavy plus you have a heated plate then the base layer will bulge due to the heat and the pressure. This way you won’t be able to get the right thing that you were thinking about printing.

To stop the first layer from bulging out you need to use a coin first. Take a quarter. Put it on the build plate and below the extruder nozzle. Make sure that the gap is only enough to slide the coin through. This height is perfect for building something.

Otherwise, the solutions that we have shown for warping also apply here. You should also decrease the heat of the build plate a bit so that it doesn’t cause the base layer to melt. Also, putting a chamfer can be helpful in this case.

# Stringing

If you don’t enable the retraction mode of your printer, you will have this problem of getting unwanted hair like strings on your design. These plastic hairs can make your design look real bad. And know, what’s worst? Removing the plastic strings.

Yes, that can be so hard and tricky and there is a great possibility that your string removal won’t be a hundred percent. So, you should get a 3d printer that has the retraction feature. Otherwise this will surely happen whenever the nozzle will be on the traveling mode.

Here traveling mode means that, while dropping plastics from the edge, the extruder nozzle may need to move to the next layer or another portion and during this moving period it does not extrude any plastic but before starting to move a little amount stays on the nozzle. This causes all the stings.

If you have an activated retraction mode, you will not face any issue like this as the plastic will be sucked in before the extruder starts to move somewhere else.

# Missing Layers & Holes in the Design

This is a problem caused by malfunctioning printer heads or faulty threads. Actually, in most of the cases, it’s a sign that your extruder nozzle is about to get clogged. Also, if you don’t use a good batch of thread this can happen.

Sometimes it’s a mechanical error also, if the printer can’t pull out threads from the spool properly, this can happen.

So, our suggestion is that, you keep your nozzle clean, ensure the flow of the thread from the spool and make sure all the components of your printer are working appropriately.

Holes can be caused by uneven build plate. Make sure that the set up is properly leveled and the temperatures are set accordingly.

So, there you have it. We have talked about the reasons and solutions of most common 3d printing problems. We hope that you have already found the one that you have been looking for.

If you can’t still find the common 3d printer problem’s solutions & troubleshooting then feel free to post your comment below and one of our experts will surely respond with the easiest solution.

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